Metaplex December Round-up

Highlights

• Fungible Tokens - Over 10m fungible tokens have now been minted with Metaplex, including 1.3m in December, the second highest month of all-time

• Core Adoption - Nearly 1.6m assets have now been minted with Core, including over 400k in December, a new monthly high

• Active Wallets - 980k unique wallets signed transactions with the protocol in December, an all-time high

• Aura Growth - Aura’s beta continued, with the network processing 40M read requests in December across Solana and Eclipse

• Protocol Fees - Protocol fees exceeded $3.1M (14,867 SOL), the second highest month of all-time, due to a surge in activity across memecoins, AI tokens, and more

• $MPLX Token Purchases - 12,000 SOL of Metaplex Protocol fees were used to buy 8.3M $MPLX (~1% of total supply) for the Metaplex DAO, the most $MPLX purchased to date

Protocol Activity

There were 1.4 million Token Metadata assets created in December, the second highest month of all-time. 1.3 million or 89% of Token Metadata assets created were fungible tokens, making December the second month in a row to surpass 1 million fungible tokens minted with Metaplex. This continued creation of Token Metadata assets is being driven by consistent memecoin activity, as well as the recent uptick in new AI coins launched. The total number of fungible tokens ever created with Token Metadata is now over 10.1 million, representing over 20% of all Token Metadata assets since inception.

December marked another record month for Core asset creation. There were 401k Core assets created in December, the most Core assets created ever in one month and a 13% MoM increase in monthly assets minted.

In total, creators and developers minted 160 million digital assets through Metaplex in December, including 158 million compressed NFTs. This marked a 678% increase in compressed NFTs minted month over month. 

980k unique wallets directly signed transactions with the protocol in December, the most monthly unique signers in one month all-time and an increase of 12% MoM.

In December, Metaplex was the second largest Solana protocol based on transaction quantity and the fifth largest protocol based on active wallets.

As of December, the total number of Metaplex collectors reached nearly 85 million unique wallets, an increase of over 25 million wallets month-over-month.

Developer Platform

Aura

December saw significant growth and performance improvements for Aura, Metaplex’s decentralized data network for Solana and the SVM. Aura now supports read requests for both DAS methods and RPC calls on both Solana and the Eclipse network. 

During December, Aura advanced from private to public beta, with developer adoption increasing steadily.  The network processed 40 million read requests across Eclipse and Solana in December, reflecting rapid adoption and increasing demand from developers.

Aura’s initial documentation was released, providing developers with the resources needed to start leveraging Aura to build responsive applications on both Solana and Eclipse.

Aura’s integration with Triton enhanced RPC support for Eclipse developers, allowing them to execute RPC calls in addition to DAS methods through a single endpoint.

Performance has also been a focal point, with average latency for asset retrieval dropping by 80% to just 97 milliseconds, positioning Aura as the fastest indexing solution for digital assets on Solana. Read consistency has reached >99.9 percent, ensuring that developers can access onchain data with near-perfect accuracy.

Aura will soon be accessible through a public gateway UI. The UI is currently in beta, and developers interested in early access can reach out directly for more information. With additional performance updates and new staking and rewards features on the horizon, Metaplex is set to further expand Aura’s capabilities throughout Q1.

AI Agents

The AI ecosystem on Solana exploded in December, with AI agent kits and platforms increasingly integrating Metaplex. These agent kits increase accessibility to the Metaplex Protocol, enabling users to interact with the onchain economy through simple commands. 

SendAI caught the ecosystem by storm with its unveiling of the Solana Agent Kit, an open-source toolkit for connecting AI agents to Solana. SendAI’s agent kit featured the MPL, enabling developers to launch and mint NFTs and fungible tokens powered by Metaplex.

Griffain has also emerged as a leading AI agent platform, which enables users to create Core assets and memecoins that use the Token Metadata standard.

Additional integrations are expected to come online, offering a new growth opportunity for onchain activity and protocol adoption.

New Metaplex Website Launch

December marked the launch of the new official Metaplex website, introducing a refreshed experience that reflects Metaplex’s evolution and expanding role within the ecosystem. The new site offers easier navigation, an ecosystem page dedicated to projects building with Metaplex, and insights into Metaplex’s growing suite of products and services. The site also consolidates educational resources, ecosystem news, and governance updates, serving as the hub for all things Metaplex. Explore the new website here.

Core

December saw Metaplex Core surpassing a cumulative 1.5 million digital assets minted, reinforcing its position as the leading standard for NFT creation on Solana and the SVM. 

The growth in adoption is further highlighted by new partner integrations, such as Backpack, which now showcase onchain attributes directly within the wallet. This integration paves the way for new and better gaming experiences, allowing players to view important asset characteristics such as level, health, and strength directly in their wallets.

Documentation & Developer Guides

December saw the release of new resources to help developers optimize their workflows. A new guide breaks down how to optimize priority fees and compute units, providing strategies for better landing rates, faster inclusion, and lower costs.

In addition, Yuki from the Japanese Metaplex community produced a series of video guides covering key Metaplex tools and features:

• How to use the Freeze Plugin

• Creating features

• Adding royalties

• Creating an asset within a collection

• Uploading JSON files

• Uploading images

• Calculating compute units

• Calculating priority fees

These resources provide hands-on demonstrations, equipping developers to build faster, and more efficiently with Metaplex tools.

Metaplex DAO

Metaplex Protocol Fees & $MPLX Token Purchases

This past month, 12,000 SOL was used to purchase 8.3 million $MPLX (~1% of total supply) that was contributed to the Metaplex DAO treasury, marking the largest $MPLX token purchase to-date. This included 50% of the Metaplex Protocol’s November fees (7,816 SOL) plus a portion of historical fees (4,184 SOL).

This marks the seventh $MPLX contribution to the Metaplex DAO. As outlined previously, 50% of the Metaplex Protocol’s prior monthly fees plus historical fees are allocated to purchasing $MPLX, supporting decentralization and community-driven governance.

December protocol fees were the second highest month all-time, generating $3.1 million or 14,869 SOL. This brought cumulative fees to over 174,000 SOL generated over the lifetime of the protocol.

DAO Grants

December was a milestone month for the Metaplex DAO Grants program as the first cohort of recipients was announced, fueling innovation across Core and MPL-404. The program kicked off with multiple teams receiving grants to build on Metaplex.

One of the standout grants was awarded to SILICONS for the development of Sili Launch, an NFT and hybrid DeFi launchpad powered by MPL-404. Publique, a participant in the first cohort of the Metaplex Startup Program, was also selected, focusing on expanding its storytelling ecosystem with Metaplex technology. Lastly, FaenoraVerse also received a grant to integrate MPL-404 into their roguelite tactics RPG game. Big Diggas was also selected as part of the cohort, with more details to follow in the coming weeks.

The Metaplex DAO Grants program is actively seeking new applicants. Developers, creators and projects interested in building with Core or MPL-404 can apply here to be part of the next cohort.

Metaplex Earn Campaign

In December, the Metaplex DAO approved Metaplex Earn – Season 1, a proposal by Forgd, that aims to allocate 1,000,000 $MPLX to boost onchain liquidity and reward liquidity providers. The two-month campaign will distribute $MPLX to liquidity pools across major Solana DeFi protocols, strengthening trading depth and integrations.

This initiative introduces new reward opportunities for the Metaplex community and lays the groundwork for deeper DAO participation through onchain $MPLX incentives. Any unused tokens will return to the DAO treasury at the end of the campaign.

The campaign rolls out in January, with details on reward distribution to follow.

Community

New Reports by Blockworks and Mint Ventures

This month research platform Blockworks and Asia-based investment firm, Mint Ventures, each released reports covering the Metaplex Protocol. You can find both reports here: Blockworks; Mint Ventures.

Metaplex on Token Warrant Podcast

In December, Metaplex joined the Token Warrant podcast to discuss building on Solana and the future of digital assets. James Ho, Co-founder of Modular Capital, and Mackenzie Hom, Head of Strategy at Metaplex Foundation, joined host Mike Zajko to dive into Metaplex’s role in driving innovation and expanding the $MPLX community. The episode explores Solana’s evolving infrastructure, the onchain economy, and what’s next for Metaplex as it continues to empower developers building decentralized applications across Solana and the SVM.

Listen to the full episode on Token Warrant.

Superteam Germany Bootcamp

In early December, the Metaplex team assisted at the three-day Solana bootcamp hosted by Superteam Germany, where developers had the opportunity to dive deep into Solana fundamentals and NFT development. Metaplex’s Dev Rel Leo led a workshop focused on digital asset creation and Candy Machine setup, giving participants hands-on experience building and deploying collections. The team also connected with developers and distributed Metaplex merchandise.

The bootcamp featured Dialect, Turbine and other local teams. SuperteamDE also hosted bounty competitions, driving engagement from builders wanting to jumpstart the development journey on Solana or expand their skills.

Metaplex Evangelist Campaigns

Metaplex launched Evangelist Campaigns in December, allocating 19,000 $MPLX per week for five weeks to reward community members for promoting and educating the community on Metaplex on social media. The first week saw strong participation globally, with ongoing campaigns driving engagement and growing awareness of the Metaplex Suite and DAO.

AthensDAOx

Metaplex will be attending the third edition of AthensDAOx in late January, with team members Scharko, Leo, and Tony representing. Tony and Leo will host workshops on building with digital assets, offering hands-on sessions for builders looking to deepen their understanding of Metaplex’s tools and the Solana ecosystem.

Application Ecosystem

December saw significant growth across Solana and Metaplex’s application ecosystem as developers launched new products, added features, and explored new use cases. Here are the highlights from the month:

• Send Arcade integrated AI assistants with Metaplex to improve user experiences, blending AI-driven interactions with onchain assets.

• Griffain launched as an AI agent platform that integrates various onchain protocols to create new onchain experiences. Griffain agents can generate Core assets in under 60 seconds, expanding access to asset creation and powering the next wave of onchain AI-driven tools.

• Nosana AI added support for Metaplex, providing developers with new tools for automating onchain processes.

• Truffle unveiled a hybrid drop powered by Metaplex, introducing dynamic pricing models and enhancing NFT distribution.

• Magic Eden launched $ME, allowing users to claim and stake tokens directly through the Magic Eden app. The $ME token, powered by Token Metadata, introduces governance, reward systems, and future quests for stakers.

• higherrrrrrr.fun migrated to Solana, utilizing Metaplex’s infrastructure to power their platform and assets.

• 3land introduced a platform for memecoin trading cards, blending NFTs with memecoin mechanics, and launched the first batch of trading cards.

• Wasabi Protocol joined the Solana ecosystem, launching their Spicy Tokens with Metaplex providing the underlying asset framework.

• Jpegs.fun announced their launch on Solana, powered by Core, bringing new NFT and memecoin trading experiences to the ecosystem.

• Pix.fun launched, using Token Metadata to power memecoin creation and trading with revenue sharing and safety features.

• print.world opened as a Solana-based platform leveraging Token Metadata for memecoin launches, offering customizable token pages, dynamic bonding curves, and automated tools for creators.

• Curved, a new launchpad for minting hybrid NFTs on a bonding curve, announced an exclusive partnership with Magic Eden, leveraging their marketplace to deliver new opportunities for NFTs and the ecosystem.

Creator Ecosystem 

December saw creators across the ecosystem continue to push boundaries, building onchain communities and engaging audiences through digital assets. Here are some of the most notable highlights from the month:

• Pudgy Penguins launched $PENGU, powered by Token Metadata, integrating its community into the Solana ecosystem.

• Portals was selected to collaborate with founding members of xAI and Grok after showcasing next-gen AI agents and games. Portals plans to integrate AI agents into its expanding virtual world, with early access opportunities for developers and creators.

• MonkeDAO hosted their yearly 24 days of Monke, a Christmas campaign featuring over $50,000 in prizes and daily free plays for holders. Participants could play for rewards through a custom claw machine, with MonkeDAO matching all ecosystem-sponsored prizes 1:1.

• The CRAB launched the first NFT-powered book, utilizing Metaplex to connect literature with onchain assets and create interactive experiences.

• Hermans used Metaplex and AI to create NFT PFPs capable of changing emotions, powered by the Core AppData plugin.

Follow @metaplex on X for ongoing community updates. You can also subscribe to receive these monthly updates directly to your email here. Developers should follow and turn on notifications for @metaplexstatus for the latest updates. To contribute to the Metaplex protocol, engage with us on GitHub or submit a Metaplex Improvement Proposal (MIP) at mip.metaplex.com.

Lastly, thank you to TopLedger for their data support on this month’s round-up. They provide real-time monitoring of Metaplex activity and usage to the ecosystem. For additional Metaplex onchain metrics, please refer to the following link.